Find Command

[Kavita Poonia]

Hello all,

I want to find out the files under a directory which are modified from past 2 days. Then what syntax should I use with find command.


Is the below format okay .........

find /opt -xdev -mtime 2 -exec ll {} \;

Thanks * regards,
Kavita

[Patrick Wallek · Accepted solution]

If you want all files modified during the last 2 days, then you need to use a '-2'.

find /opt -xdev -mtime -2 -exec ll {} \;

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

Use this:

# find /opt/ -xdev -type f -mtime -2 -exec ls -l {} +

This limits your search to *files* that have been modified sometime in the last 2-days (where a day is exactly 24-hours). The '-exec' argument is terminated with a "+" instead of a ";". This causes multiple arguments to be passed to your 'ls' greatly reducing the number of forked processes and thereby greatly improving overall performance.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Kavita Poonia]

Thanks Patrick and James.........It was really very helpful.......so if I want to see any file which is modified in past x days then I have to specify -x with -mtime......one more thing how can I find a file under a directory which is growing continuously with find command........

[Dennis Handly]

>so if I want to see any file which is modified in past x days then I have to specify -x with -mtime

Yes. But it is exact. It will not return files modified exactly 2 days ago or 2.5.
Caution, if you export UNIX95, the dates are completely different.

>how can I find a file under a directory which is growing continuously with find command

This requires you to create a "database" with the size the last time you checked.
Of course, if the file is always being appended, then all you need is that it was modified.

[Kavita Poonia]

Thanks Dennis.........